Growing potatoes and carrots ....

[Marlise]

Hello green thumbed geeks,

I need some advice…

My partner recently bought a house which doesn’t have a garden, but a rather lovely “patio” area with a huge box full of really nice soil that the previous owners used to grown their own veg.

About 4 / 5 weeks ago, we noticed that there where a lot of weeds growing in the box and we promised to get rid of them.

However, having to take care of a million other things, we never got round to getting rid of the weeds and suddenly realised over the weekend that these weeds have gotten rather big. About 60cm or so off the ground.

On closer inspection, I told my partner that I don’t actually think they are weeds, but could quite possibly be some kind of veg. Can you tell that I’m a townie LOL !!

Anyway, I dug around in the soil and found what I believe to be a potato !! I’ve done some research on the web and having looked at loads of pictures, I do think that we’ve got potatoes growing in our garden.

Now, here are the questions that I’m struggling with.

1) How do you know when the potatoes are ready to be harvested ? I’ve read on the web that once they start flowering, you can dig them up for new potatoes, or wait until the leaves die / go brown and then you can dig them up for normal sized potatoes.

Question is, when do they start to flower (month) and when do the leaves die ?? Can’t find the answer to my question on the web.


2) I’ve also read that you need to keep covering the leaves with soil, but as the plant is already 60cm + tall, I think that isn’t possible. Why do you need to do this ?


3) I also read that a green potato is toxic (which came as news to me !). Does that mean if you harvest them before they are “mature”, you can’t actually eat them because they’ll be poisonous ?


4) Also read that once you harvest them, you shouldn’t expose them to light but bury them in dry sand….. another web site said to lay them out on the ground for a couple of days once you dug them up. What do you need to do ??



And my final question, I really want to grow some Purple Haze Carrots. I’ve bought the seeds over the weekend, but am too scared to do anything with them now LOL.

I was going to plant them in the box, but as the potatoes seem to have taken over, I was thinking of planting them in a free standing container.

Do I just plant the seeds and hope for the best ? Is there anything special I need to do ? How do I know when the carrots are ready to be harvested LOL ???

OMG, who said growing your own veg was easy and fun :lol: :lol:


Marlise

 

[Marlise]

LOL... just saw the title ...GROWNING Potatoes :lol: :lol:

They probably are "growning" realising that they have a complete idiot looking after them now :lol: :lol:


M.

 

[JackieMc]

What a great find! I've just started growing potatoes this year, in bags of all things, and the back garden is stacked with them now so I hope they turn out ok.

Re: your questions, I'll try to answer what I can, if the plant are already high then you don't need to bother covering them up with soil, it's a bit late for that now, I think you usually do that while they are growing to make sure you get more spuds.

There are a few different types of potatoes, earlies, main crop and a few in between, and I've don't think you can tell which are which once they've been planted. Apparently, for 'earlies' you can start to harvest them about a week after the flowers first start to appear, but this shouldn't be any sooner than June. My 'earlies' are just starting to get little buds on them and I'm hoping they'll be flowering soon. With earlies you can pull up the whole plant as they won't have too many potatoes on them.

Main crop potatoes should be ready about sept onwards - there should be more potatoes on a main crop plant so you can stick your hand in the earth and just pull out as many as you need and the rest should still keep growing.

If you're going to eat them straight away I don't think there's any need to dry them out. But if you want to store them for a while then yes, you do need to let the skins dry out, usually in the sun for a couple of hours, and then you can wrap them in newspaper and keep them in a cool dark place. Check them every couple of days in case there's a bad one and throw it out so it doesn't affect the others.

You shouldn't grow potatoes in ground that has already grown them previously (crop rotation) or you could get them ruined by pests etc., so maybe next year grow something else in your little 'allotment'.

Also, be aware that if your potatoes plants get berries on them they are toxic - it is related to deadly nightshade after all!!

I find carrots easy. Sow them where they are to grow and then thin out the seedlings. You need a fairly deep bed for them and I just pulled mine out as and when I needed them - see what it says on the packet about how long they need to grow before they're ready. My carrots tasted gorgeous when I grew them the other year - can't beat them fresh from the garden.

Good luck!!

 

[Marlise]

Hi Jackie,

You are a star !! :hug:

Like I said, I can only assume it was the previous owners who planted them, no idea where they came from otherwise :lol:

OK, so they should start flowering in June sometime. Great !! I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop, I just want to go and dig them up right now to see what they look like :smack:

As we don't know what they are, if I have some new potatoes in June ish when they start flowering, can I leave the rest until Sept to get bigger potatoes ? There are about 7 - 8 of these big plants in the little allotment.

Besides lots of green leaves, I haven't seen any berries on them. Does this normally happen ??

Perhaps it's not such a bad thing... I could bump my partner off by making him a lovely mash LOL :lol: :lol:

Dont have the packet for my carrots with me, will get details and post to you tomorrow for further advice :hug:

Thanks for all your advice.


M.

 

[Marlise]

"Also, be aware that if your potatoes plants get berries on them they are toxic - it is related to deadly nightshade after all!!"

Hi everybody,

Just revisiting this thread.

My potatoes (and not weeds) you'll be glad to know are growing like mad and have taken over our "allotment" :lol:

I really don't know what type of potatoe they are and am trying to figure out when I can harvest them.

Only one plant has started to flower, and it only has 2 - 3 little flowers on it. Does that mean they are ready ??

Also, having just re-read all the advice Jackie gave me earlier, I thought I would clarify the above quote.

Are the potatoes poisonous if the plant has berries on, or is it just the berries that are poisonous... ??

Who could have thought that Potatoes could be dangerous :lol:


Marlise.


PS: My purple haze carrots are coming along nicely and should be ready by next month !!

 

[pips]

I dont have anything to say that will help you in your quest to grow potatoes chick but wanted to say thanks for brightening my day.

Reading all the above took me right back to a young child when i would help my grandpops. he lived at #1 and me, mum & siblings lived at #3, we both had really long gardens and the top sections was made in to the veg patch.

How i loved those days getting muddy knees working along the trench with my dowel making holes ready for grandpops to follow and place the seed:lol:

We never went short as he grew potatoes, sweed, carrots, sweetpeas, beetroot, sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, goosberrys, strawberrys, rasberrys plus many more things.:green:

Oh they were the days:hug:

 

[collin]

Well we are just begining to see the early potatoes being brought into the house and onto the dinner table....absolutley fab when thre still fairly small....yum yum yum

Realy weird as would never had though when I used to help my grandad harvest his crop that one day we would be doing just that....OMG does that mean im now eligable as a grandad status kind of thing

Somehow its just so rewarding and beats the heck out of going to the supermarket.:hug:

 

[becki x]

Well we are just begining to see the early potatoes being brought into the house and onto the dinner table....absolutley fab when thre still fairly small....yum yum yum

Realy weird as would never had though when I used to help my grandad harvest his crop that one day we would be doing just that....OMG does that mean im now eligable as a grandad status kind of thing

Somehow its just so rewarding and beats the heck out of going to the supermarket.:hug:

Me and my son grow our own veg and some fruit too,i love it and so does he ,from the seed to the plant to the flower then the "fruit" and when a strawberry turns red and juicy we celebrate :lol:

 

[marioned]

It's just the berries that are toxic, not the potatoes. HTH x

 

[The Guild]

As you geeks seem pretty green fingered, I thought I'd test your knowledge of apple trees. I moved into my house this year, and have a realtively young tree (a couple of years) in the garden. In April/May it began to blossom, but the flowers were white and the size of my hand.

I couldn't work out what it was, but in the last few weeks some apples have begun to grow. My Mum has an apple tree, but I have never seen it blossom the way this one did. I wondered if anyone knew how to identify what type of apple tree it is, as I don't want to start serving my dearly beloved an apple crumble made from crab apples.

Any ideas?

 

[marioned]

Ummmm, wait and see what they look like when they get bigger and compare one to those in your local tesco? LOL I think you'd be able to tell if it was crab apples, aren't they quite small? Look around the bottom of the tree in case there is still a tag attached. Other than this I'm no help I'm afraid! My knowledge of apples is - there are red, yellow and green ones.

 

[JANEY K]

OH you've just took me a trip down memory lane

both my grandpa's and my dad used to grow all their own vegetables ,strawberries , raspberries ..even herbs.

Aww those were the days

I think the crab apple tree is a herbal tree & i think it starts of as a whitish\pale pink flowery bud then turns into a yellowy\orange colored apple..apparently they are alright to eat as my mother in law has one in her garden i haven't got a picture but this is what her one looks like
Google Image Result for http://www.wendysgarden.co.uk/_wp_generated/wpaf83a3a8_0f.jpg

a gardener would tell you if you ask them

 

[Gelly]

I am so tired, so I will come back to this thread and give it the input it deserves when iI feel a bit better.
But for now, I want to share a couple of pictures of my home grown carrots...... the ones in the 2nd picture came out of the ground hugging....... aren't they lovely! :hug: